DOUBLE SPRINGS — Holly Pond is all too familiar with games slipping away these last two seasons.

The Broncos’ 35-27 loss to Class 3A, Region 5 opponent Winston County (4-3, 2-2) Friday night was another game coach Mike Bates said his team and staff just weren’t able to close out.

Holly Pond (0-6, 0-3) had one heckuva first half, which was highlighted by sophomore quarterback Michael Lambert’s four touchdown passes.

The first score of the game came on a 37-yard throw to wide receiver Matthew Doyle.

The Yellow Jackets responded with two consecutive touchdowns of their own to make it 15-7 with 8:17 remaining in the second quarter.

Lambert, however, fired back with three scoring strikes to receiver Chris Richards — 80, 92 and 20 yards, respectively — to take the Broncos into halftime with an unfamiliar two-score lead at 27-15.

Lambert has frequently been a catalyst for his squad’s successes, but Bates doled out compliments to his entire team.

“Firstly, our receivers caught the ball well,” he said. “That’s something we’ve struggled with in the past, and we’ve worked on it a lot. Our offensive line did a great job of protecting Michael as well.”

The second half, however, set a different precedent for the game. Holly Pond didn’t find the end zone again, and Winston County found it thrice.

Despite Lambert’s first-half fireworks display — he finished with 422 passing yards — the quarterback struggled on his feet.

“We had three of four sacks that accounted for several yards for loss,” Bates said.

Lambert accounted for minus-40 yards rushing, and running back Caleb Jones didn’t find any daylight against the Yellow Jacket defense, either, accounting for 5 yards in the ground game.

Winston County orchestrated a balanced attack against the Bronco defense. The Yellow Jackets rushed for 264 yards and passed for another 260 to total 524 yards on the evening.

“They’ve got a lot of good skill people,” Bates said. “And they’re a lot bigger than us.”

While Holly Pond hasn’t been able to capitalize on a couple of strong starts this season, the Broncos have at least shown they won’t go down without a fight, which is something Bates hopes to build into a full-game performance.

“A lot of people may not see what we do, but we’ve slowly gotten better,” he said. “I am really, really proud of our kids. They keep fighting when a lot of others wouldn’t. We’re going to keep improving and striving to play a complete game. One of the things that’s just going to come naturally is getting older. We’ve got a sophomore quarterback, a sophomore running back and several sophomores on the offensive line.”

Holly Pond hosts region- and county-rival Vinemont next week, who is reeling from a 61-13 loss to Oakman.

‰ Winfield 43, Hanceville 14: The tough-luck Bulldogs (0-6, 0-3) couldn’t find their first win of the season against the Pirates (5-2, 4-0) Friday night.

Injury-riddled Hanceville, which suited up just less than 20 players for its third home game in a row, found the end zone only twice and had its total offensive yardage doubled.

Winfield’s Xaiver McCollum was the sole visitor of the end zone in the first half, scoring three times and carrying his team into the half up 21-0.

With 10:33 remaining in the third quarter, Jordan Hunt connected with Kent Jenkins for a 25-yard strike to bring the deficit to 28-0.

When the Bulldogs finally reached the end zone late in the third quarter, it wasn’t quite what they had in mind. The Pirate’s Nathan Smith tackled Branen Hurst for a safety, making the score 37-0 Winfield.

In the fourth quarter, Hanceville did find the end zone of its own volition.

Running back Dant’e Reese completed a pass to fellow senior Griffin Brown for 16 yards, and Hurst found senior wide receiver Jose Orozco for 42 yards, making the score 37-14 with 7:44 remaining in the game.

Winfield’s Xavier McCollum’s wrapped up the night with 251 rushing yards.

Hanceville was held to 71 yards rushing and managed to gain 219 yards of total offense.

The Bulldogs will travel to Oakman next week.

% Madison County 35, Fairview 14: Tyler Gurley ran for two touchdowns and threw for another to lead the Tigers (3-3, 3-1 in 5A, Region 7) to a home win over the Aggies (2-4, 0-4).

Madison County started out hot, scoring on the second play of scrimmage on a Gabe Ozio 63-yard run.

Fairview came back to score early in the second on an Austin Harris 1-yard run, making the score 7-6. But then Gurley added a 26-yard TD run and Tae Provens scored on a 70-yard end around run late in the second to give the Tigers a 21-6 halftime lead.

Gurley tacked on his second rushing score of the day on a 25-yard scamper and then threw a 30-yard TD pass to Colton Parton to cap his big night.

Logan Brooks scored on a 3-yard run in the fourth quarter for Fairview’s second touchdown. Sambo Woods added eight catches for 106 yards for the Aggies.  

Fairview totaled 21 first downs compared to Madison County’s 11 but failed to convert fourth downs numerous times in Tigers territory.

The Aggies visit Guntersville next week.